


The Existence of a Line

by koalathebear



Series: What If? [3]
Category: Homeland
Genre: Angst, F/M, Speculative
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 18:01:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3078590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalathebear/pseuds/koalathebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"Is there no line with you, Carrie? Is there no fucking line?" </i>
</p><p>Set during 4.04 Iron in the Fire and 4.05 About A Boy.  <b>What if</b> Quinn managed to convince Carrie that there is a line that shouldn't be crossed?</p><p>Not strictly a series, but I like to think that my fic <a href="http://koalathebear.livejournal.com/1483114.html">Destruction</a> came first :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Existence of a Line

**Author's Note:**

> One of the posters over at the [previously.tv discussion forum on Homeland](http://forums.previously.tv/topic/17825-s04e07-redux/page-2) said: “Most of all, I love the way the Quinn-Carrie relationship is developing. Those two have an unique bond. Quinn was the only one who could have stopped her at that War Room - even in her manic state, she still listened to him. He’s the only one who knows how she really feels about…everything, really. He may be the only one capable and willing to save her from herself. I hope so.”
> 
> I started thinking - what would have happened if someone like Quinn had intervened earlier and stopped Carrie from crossing the line and found another way to win Aayan's trust thereby saving Carrie from herself?

"Wh-what are you doing??" Aayan stammers skittishly, panic in his huge dark eyes as Carrie's hand brushes against his leg, her mouth brushes against his. He looks like a terrified woodland creature, trapped and quivering. Carrie suppresses the mixture of remorse, irritation and disgust that rises up inside her.

"Nothing," she says softly. "Is that okay?" she asks him, brushing her hand against him again as she leans in for another kiss. She closes her thoughts and focuses on what she needs to do.

"I don't know…" he whispers.

"You've never done this before…" she realises.

"No..." he tells her.

Carrie's phone rings and Aayan moves away from her nervously, clearly grateful for the interruption and the opportunity to move away from her. 

_Fuck._

She glances at the phone. It's a missed call but there's a text message.

 _I'm outside._ The message is terse and unexpansive.

Swearing under her breath she picks up the phone and shoves it into her pocket. "Hey – I just need a bit of a walk to clear my head," she tells Aayan

"OK," Aayan replies, looking very relieved. 

"You're safe here – just relax and make yourself at home, OK?" she tells him and he nods, his eyes huge. "I won't be long," she promises him. He looks even more vulnerable and there's a sick-feeling in her stomach.

Going outside, she stares across the road and sees Quinn standing beneath a tree, staring off into the distance. She stares at him incredulously, unable to believe that he's here. She storms across the road.

"Ever heard of protocol?" she spits out as she approaches.

"Ever heard of the phone?" he demands.

"I'm fucking busy!"

"You have gone completely AWOL!"

"That is bullshit. Well, here I am. So what's your big emergency? What do you want?" Fury radiates through her whole body.

He tries to contain his own anger. When Fara had told him that Carrie had asked her to bring the boy Aayan to a safe house, he had known exactly what Carrie's next move was, what she was planning and how she intended to win over the young Pakistani's trust.

"Why don't you tell me just what it is you're doing in there?" he asks her bluntly, jerking his chin towards the safe house.

"I'm recruiting someone," she says defensively.

"Really?" he asks questioningly, his eyebrows raised. "'Cause to me it looks like you're preparing to fuck a child." She flinches, nausea rising up inside of her.

"Quinn – we only have two days. If we want to find out where Haqqani is - I have to move fast!" her voice cracks in its desperation.

"Is there no line with you, Carrie? Is there no fucking line?" he asks her furiously. His eyes are dark and stormy, filled with an unreadable emotion.

"What's it to you anyway?" she demands of him, confused and angry.

He falls silent and stares down into her face, looking at the genuine bewilderment in her eyes. Carrie Mathison. Smart as a whip and completely and totally oblivious. He's never met someone so brilliant and so clueless at the same time.

"The fuck, Quinn. Why are you looking at me like that?" she demands defensively. "You've no right to judge me."

If she thought about it harder, she'd remember that he's always there – on the edge, watching over her for every little thing, making sure she's all right… Given the choice, he doesn't want it to be like this, but that's just how it is. This fucked up power dynamic where he feels powerless to resist her demands. She has his respect and his loyalty but he can't stand by and let her do _this_. He stands there silently, just staring at her.

"I could really use some support here, Quinn," she tells him softly, her anger dissipating.

" There are other plays – you don't have to sleep with him – there are other ways for us to gain his trust."

_But this is the fastest way … the easiest…_

Nausea rises in her throat again. It's the easiest and the most difficult. "Please don't make this harder than it already is for me," she tells him, her eyes huge.

 _Fuck, fuck, fuck._ It's like a knife in his gut. He wishes she wouldn't look at him like that, wouldn't say 'please' with that catch in her voice - her eyes huge and wild… She's always like this – charging through life, pushing past everyone, him included, to take whatever she needs to … she's completely unaware of the complexity of his feelings but at some level, she knows that all she has to do is ask and he'll do whatever she needs. Not this though. Standing by and listening to her fuck Brody was enough. He's not going to let her sacrifice herself for the mission again. She's worth more than that.

"It's not the right way to do it – you lose a little piece of your soul - "

"I'm not killing him, Quinn. It's just fucking sex. It doesn't mean anything," she tells him and the fact that she believes what she is saying is devastating, almost heart-breaking.

"You're wrong, Carrie," he tells her. "There's a cost when you fuck an asset just like there's a cost when I take a human life …"

"You're comparing apples and oranges," she tells him irritably, but she's still there, listening instead of storming off, lobbing a furious fuck you at him over her shoulder. Despite the anger, the desperation he realises that he has managed to make her stop, take a breath and regroup. 

"The things you're prepared to do for the mission – you are fucking amazing - you know that. There's no one like you, no one sacrifices like you do," he tells her and the admiration in his voice is genuine, his voice is hoarse.

Tears shine in her eyes. She's not used to hearing things like this and they're not easy to believe or accept. "We can find another way to recruit Aayan, Carrie. Let me help you – the fact that he's here means that you've already started to win his trust …"

She covers her mouth with her hand and a sob escapes her. He reaches out and grips her hand. She tries to shake off his hand. "No," she tells him in a low, voice, thickened by emotion. "Let go of me. I have to do this – it's the only way." She tells him and he shakes his head.

"No it's not," he tells her firmly. "And you don't have to do this alone." His voice is low and fierce, staring down into her face intently. "You're not alone in this. You asked us to come – Max is here, Fara is here … I'm fucking here for you Carrie …"

"Yes, you're here," she repeats almost like a mantra. Her breathing steadies and she finds herself calming despite herself . Quinn feels himself relaxing slightly. "What are you suggesting?" she asks him.

"Aayan has a girlfriend named Kiran – also a medical student. She and Fara have been getting along like a house on fire."

He can see the wheels turning in Carrie's head as he speaks. "How do you want to play it? Is she leverage?" she asks him. "Will he go to Haqqani for help if she thinks she's in trouble?"

"That's what I'm here to talk to you about," he tells her with a crooked grin. "Now we have two irons in the fire."


End file.
